In Europe it is looked down upon if you "came from nothing" but in the US it is good to gaqin a higher social standing.

What exemplified the popular belief in the the supereority of a competitive, achievement

Changes in the legal profession.

What did these changes in the legal profession due during the Revolutionary era?

Lowered the intellectual quality of the legal profession even as they made it more democratic in composition.

What did some Americans question?

The morality of a social order based on mobility and financial success.

By the 1810's, republicanism meant what?

Voting rights for all free white men.

What opened up poltical participation to propertyless young men who paid a "poll" (head taX)?

State Constitutions in Pennsylvania and Vermont in 1776 allowed all taxpayers to vote.

What happened within a decate to 1810?

Fifteen states had allowed all white mal taxpayers to vote, and another seven instituted universal white manhood suffrage, leaving only three states with property qualifications.

What did this expansion of suffrage do?

Change the tone of politics.

How did most conservative politicians view this?

Agreed with popular suffrage but insisted upon an elite-dominated political system.

How did Americans feel towards this system?

They refused to vote for politicians who flaunted high social status and elected politicians who dressed simply and endorsed democracy.

What happened as the political power of the middling and poor white men grew?

The rights and status of white women and free blacks declined.

What did New Jersey define full citizenship as in 1807?

An attribute of white men only.

What happened as John Adams lamented on behalf of husbands in 1776?

Revolutionary doctrine of political equality had spread to encourage white women to demand right to speak out or control inheritances.

What also eroded customary paternal authority?

Economic and cultural changes.

What happened as land holdings shrank?

Economic incentives they had used to influence their children's selection of a spouse.

How did they begin to choose their own partners.

Sentimentalism

What is the idea of Sentimentalism

European-spawned idea that emphasized feelings and emotions and a physical appreciation of God, nature, and other people rather than logic and reason.

Sentimentalistm did what?

Found many forms of expression.

What happened as a result of sneimentalism?

A new marriage system appeared. Parents had considered the personal charactar and

Companionate marriage

Republican ideal which gave wives "true equality" with their wives.However, jusbands continuied to occupy priveleged position.

What was going on before and after 1800 in terms of marriage?

Before: most petitioners for divorce had charged their spouses with neglect, abandonment, or adultery. After: emotional grounds dominated divorce petitions.

By the 1790's, what had changed in traditions with women wives?

Before, they were focused on family duties and by the 1790's the birthrate in the northern seaboard states was dropping dramatically. Women who had married around 1750 gave birth to more children then around 1810.

The United States was one of the first countries to experience what?

This sharp decline in birthrate.

What were the causes to this?

Young men migrated to the trans-Appalaachian West, leaving women without partners and many white American couples in the emerging middle class deliberately limited the size of their families..

What did women find as they looked for new oppurtunities?

Found support from changes in Christian thought.

Traditionally, most religious writers had viewed women as moralliy what?

inferior to men.

What had happened by 1800?

Protestand ministers had begun to place responsibility for sexual misconduct on men.

Reflecting this sentiment, political leaders called on women to...

become "republican wives" and "republican mothers" who would correctly shape the characters of American men. and instruct children on

Republican motherhood

idea that American women's moral superiority gave them a special role to play in the new political and social system.` To be content to caqre for their children.

What else did Republican social thought alter?

tHE ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT INHERITANCE AND CHILDREARING..

Primogeniture.

Under English common law, property owned by a father who died without a will passed to his eldest son.

Why did most American parents support statutes which required such estates to be divided equally among offspring?

Because they had already begun to treat all of their children as equals.

Foreign visitors believed what about republican ideology?

That it encouraged American parents to relax parental discipline and give their children greater freedom. But these assumptions were not universal.

What was the contrast between Yeomen farmers and members of Episcopal or Presbyterian members?

Episcopal or Presbyterian parents often followed the teachings of rationalist-minded religious teachers and encouraged children to act correctly through praise, advice, and reasoned restraint. Yeomen farmers, influenced by the Second Great Awakening, followed the precepts of authoritarian-minded writers. These raised their children using strict rules and harsh discipline.

Where did education take place until the 1820's?

In the household.

What did Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Rush separetly proposed?

Aprehensive schemes for a comprehensive system of primary and secondary schooling.

What did ordinary citizens think of this?

Such educated proposals smacked of elitism,.

What happened even though many state constitutions encouraged the use ofp ublic resources to fund primary schools?

There was not much progress until the 1820's

What happened after this?

A new generation of reformers led by merchants and manufacturers successfully campaugbed ti rause stantards by campaigning to raise standards by certifying qualified teachers and appointing state superintendents of education.

What did Noah Webster do?

Called on his follow citizens to detach themselves from dependence on foregin opinions and manners which is fatal to the efforts of genius in this country. He introduced American spelling and defined words according to American usage.

What was a result of Webster and others' efforts to promote an independent, republican literary culture?

It was slow to develop. Most successful writer was Washington Irving who was an elitist-minded Federalist.